Prosecution: Latin Kings were ruthless

WHITE PLAINS — Christian "King Chi Chi" Sanchez and a crew of fellow gangsters spoke rapidly in March 2010 as they rode in a taxi toward a funeral for one of their own.

BY DOYLE MURPHY

WHITE PLAINS — Christian "King Chi Chi" Sanchez and a crew of fellow gangsters spoke rapidly in March 2010 as they rode in a taxi toward a funeral for one of their own.

Just days before, the Latin Kings had participated in the slayings of two young men within 24 hours in the City of Newburgh, federal prosecutors said. The first to die was Jerome "Rude Boy" Scarlett, who, the gang believed, was killed by a prospective member named John "Tarzan" Maldonado. The Latin Kings allegedly executed Maldonado the day after in retaliation.

"I know we took care of it, but that ain't the point," Sanchez allegedly said inside the cab. "The point is I want some more (people) dead."

His audience included an FBI informant wearing a wire. On Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas McQuaid played a recording of the taxi conversion during his closing argument in the trial of Sanchez and fellow Latin Kings leader Wilson "King Gunz" Pagan. Sanchez and Pagan face federal charges that include racketeering, narcotics conspiracy and murder.

McQuaid told jurors Sanchez's conversation in the cab was clearly about the revenge killing of Maldonado, another example of the violence he and Pagan directed for years in Newburgh.

McQuaid said the gang went to war in 2008 after a Blood named Abner Alvarez murdered one of their members, Brian "B-Bugz" Triminio. Pagan was close to Triminio and wanted revenge, McQuaid said.

"This was a real war, ladies and gentleman, and Wilson Pagan led it," he said.

Pagan pushed the Latin Kings to retaliate and eventually authorized an attack that led to the 2008 killing of 15-year-old Jeffrey Zachary, an innocent bystander who was shot by mistake, McQuaid said.

Prosecutors called a series of Pagan 'sand Sanchez's former allies from the gang to testify during the five-week trial. Jurors also have seen letters from Pagan and Sanchez, more than a half-dozen guns, surveillance videos, phone records and confiscated drugs. Prosecutors say the evidence depicts a ruthless criminal organization that was created by Pagan and later pushed to new levels of violence by Sanchez.

Defense attorneys are set to make their closing arguments Tuesday. Prosecutors would then have one more chance to make a rebuttal argument. After the judge's charge, the case will go to the jury.